This blog is to promote the discussion and share ideas about the Ward Six redistricting process. This blog is maintained by Joe Fengler, W6TF Chair. To propose a "post" or poll - send request to ward6rd@gmail.com. While anonymity is used on blogs, I would encourage folks to use their real names. This is a request and not a requirement. The only firm rules are to treat each other respect and avoid personal attacks. For the meeting schedule and information, see below buttons.

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Thursday, August 4, 2011

W6TF Approves Initial ANC Redistricting Plan

Last night, the W6TF unanimously approved an initial Advisory Neighborhood Commission redistricting plan for Ward 6 based on the resident submission from Mr. Rob Stephens with the following changes:

1. Split Lincoln Park between ANC 6A and ANC 6B.

2. Add St. Coletta's School to ANC 6B (Kingman Park was included in the Stephens proposal).

The following options were approved for additional research:

1. For ANC 6E, prepare two SMD options regarding "where" the census blocks below Massachusetts Ave by Union Station should be placed. The first option keeps these census blocks in ANC 6E. The second option moves the census blocks to ANC 6C.

2. For ANC 6E, prepare two SMD options regarding the north/south diving line. The first option keeps the line at North Capitol. The second option moves the north/south diving line east to Union Station up to either H or K Street and then returns to North Capitol.

3. For ANC 6D, prepare two SMD options for the near southeast community (generally the freeway to river using South Capitol as the north/south boundary). The first option keeps this community in ANC 6D. The second option moves this community to ANC 6B.

These options will be discussed and decided at the next W6TF meeting on Monday, August 8 (6:30pm) at the Theater Church located at 435 8th Street, SE.

The populations and suggested number of commissioners are:

ANC 6A, in orange: 18,111 (9 Commissioners)

ANC 6B, in light blue: 20,217 (10 Commissioners)

ANC 6C, in green: 11,140 (5 Commissioners)

ANC 6D, in dark blue: 14,359 (7 Commissioners)

ANC 6E, in red: 14,185 (7 Commissioners)

16 comments:

Thank you so much for your hard work on this! This plan looks great. I'm excited that Kingman Park is going to be part of 6A - I am looking forward to working with my neighbors down the street to continue to make our neighborhood great!

"1. For ANC 6E, prepare two SMD options regarding "where" the censusblocks below Massachusetts Ave by Union Station should be placed. Thefirst option keeps these census blocks in ANC 6E. The second optionmoves the census blocks to ANC 6C."

I know these blocks well. They have very few residents: The CCNV and a condo apartment building at 15 E Street NW. Gale Shelter will soon move in on Mass. Ave. Probably only a few hundred folks at most in this area.

Of these entities: The condo is currently in my SMD, and they have their problems with surrounding commercial establishments, e.g., hotels and pool parties, commercial trash trucks arriving at 4 am to serve those commercial units. The Gale Shelter came before ANC 6C recently and appears to have a good operation plan, but it means an influx of more homeless people in a hotel and tourist area. As for CCNV, I once served on its citizen board and know it has numerous problems with management of the premises, health and mental health emergencies, etc. Any ANC commissioner who has the CCNV and Gale Shelter will have to have good stamina and energy, a person who has the time and inclination to help.

The odd characteristic of Gale and CCNV is that homeless people come and go. They are not necessarily registered voters, but they have the right to shelter in the District of Columbia.

So my recommendation is not to just "tack on" this area haphazardly. It has its special needs and needs attention; it is quite different from other residential areas.

I understand these concerns, and if ANC 6E is not willing to take it on, we could take it as part of 6C if needed.

Please accept my thanks for the commitment to our community you are demonstrating by your willingness to devote so much time in the middle of this hot summer to the rather tedious but very important task of redrawing the ANC boundaries.

The founding principle and one of the enduring virtues of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions is the concept of "neighborhood". In redrawing the boundaries I would urge you to focus on the importance of affinity of interests/concerns, compact distances, and traditional focal points (parks, the Market, etc) within each ANC. To stretch an ANC over too great a distance (eg: Florida Ave NE to North Carolina Ave SE. or the Fish Market in SW to Garfield Park SE) dilutes its purpose and value as the most grassroots unit of government. The prohibition against federation in the enabling ANC legislation is intended to discourage the formation of a kind of Ward within a Ward.

Ensuring the quality of ANC decisions and the consequent "great weight" various regulatory bodies will grant those decisions very often rests on the cohesion of the ANC. Affinity of interests/concerns is critical to the ANC concept and is more important than perfectly equalizing the number of residents represented. (At one time there was an ANC with only three Commissioners which did a great job representing residents on a stretch of Conn Ave.) Since the inception of ANCs, there have been some that have consistently functioned as the law envisioned they should; and, unfortunately, there have also been a few quite dysfunctional groups -- and we have had our share of both in Ward 6.

I would also respectfully ask that you consider including St. Collettas's School in a Ward 6 ANC. The Ward boundaries have been drawn in a way that isolates it from a neighborhood of which it has become an integral part.

Karen, those of us who would be in the new ANC 6E are willing to keep those blocks in the new ANC 6E. I don't think that it should be a "tack on" either but we welcome those areas into 6E. Having worked with you on some these issues in the past 2.5 years with the PZE Committee, I feel that we would have the stamina and energy to address those issues./Rob Amos

ridiculous disgusting nonsense 20 thousand , 18, thousand and then 11 thousand who do you think your kidding . Do the job honestly and create at least one more ANC to reduce those two large ANCs and increase the size of the 11 thousand person ANC

This has been a great process and thank you all for your hard work! The 7 Commissioner size of ANC 6E is very welcome. I just want to reiterate my support for the boundary of ANC 6E extending over to the train tracks, at least south of K Street.

Overall the plan makes sense, except that 6C really does have an odd population number. I've been playing with potential SMD boundaries, and six SMDs seems like the most reasonable number for this area, if 6C includes everything in NW South of Mass Ave.

This would still give a strong voice (automatic party status) to 6E in the 395 Air Rights project, in the same way 6C and 6E would both have party status for the Burnham Place Air Rights over Union Station if 6E includes the wedge between Mass, N. Cap & H.

It would be great, however, if 6C could extend down to Independence or Pennsylvania as well, so that it could have 7 members and avoid potential 3-3 gridlock.

Once again, thank you to the commission for all of your excellent work. This is amazing to have this forum and the mapping tools available for this process.

Here are some potential SMD boundaries for 6C. The two air rights projects would be shared by both 6E and 6C, which makes sense because both are affected by it, and they have effectively been working together on both of these for years, since half of 6E is currently 6C.

H Street is shared by two SMDs (similar to how 6A is set up), and so is NoMa. This also separates some of the giant new NoMa buildings so that all development isn't just concentrated in one SMD.

The proposed boundaries are drawn at L because with the current boundary at K, the actual, 2011 population North of K is over 3,000 (due to Flats 130, Washington Center and Loree Grand)... not counting unrented and/or under construction apartments. None of those people were there in April 2010, and by mid-2013 the population North of K will exceed 4,000. A split at 6th (with one SMD from N. Cap to 6th, and the other 6th to 8th) would have a similar problem. An L Street split makes both North of H SMDs similar sizes in both census, and 2011, numbers.

It's amazing to think that these two Near Northeast/NoMa SMDs will probably be their own, 14,000 person ANCs in 2021!

If the W6TF wants to minimize ANC boundary changes and minimize the number of residents who are forced to change ANCs, this indeed is the best option presented on the W6TF blog (for full disclosure, I proposed the Status Quo Plus/Stephens plan).

If, however, the W6TF wants to increase the size of the smallest ANC under this plan (i.e. ANC 6C) and reduce population discrepancies between ANCs, then the W6TF may want to consider modifying this plan along the lines suggested by the Fengler/Rice proposal which in my opinion is/was a better plan though it is very similar to the Status Quo Plus/Stephens plan they adopted. The downside of the Fengler/Rice plan, to state the obvious, would have been its effect on the largest ANC (6B) which has a highly mobilized, vocal, engaged and effective number of constituents who made it clear they are strongly opposed to nearly all changes in 6B.

In any case, Fengler, Rice and the entire W6TF deserve to be commended for their extensive, transparent and highly participatory hearing process, including the meetings and the blog.

I'm Concerned. Looking at the map, the plan seems workable, but when the individual communities (personalities) are considered, I couldn't imagine why some neighborhoods are being included in the same ANC. Perhaps there ought to be more ANCs. I'm a resident of MVS, and historically it has been a struggle to work with the residents of Shaw. Views on development, and the role of nonprofit organizations have been only a few of the sticking points. I would like to see additional ANCs with fewer SMDs. Perhaps no more than 4.

Tip, in that case you would end up in a tiny 4 person ANC with Shaw. 10 years of exactly that has been mostly awful (and now we've lost the chunk of PQ.) A larger more diverse ANC will dilute the mini kingdom effect. We also have to remember that the lines should not be drawn according to who the current commissioners are and who lives where. people move and elections happen ;)

I live and work on Capitol Hill, my daily commute buses me down Barracks Row from the ballpark area, and walks me home through Folger or Marion Park and Garfield Park, Fragers is my neighborhood hardware store, Eastern Market and Yes! Organic are my grocers, Pound the Hill feeds my nutella cravings, Southeast Public Library keeps me in sync with my book club, Jimmy T's keeps my weekend mornings starting right, Lincoln Park and the Congressional Cemetery provide pups when I need a little fur therapy, the entire Hill residential neighborhood becomes my marathon training track, and Capitol Hill Classic 10K gives me the sanity check mid year. I live just beyond the highway in the Near Southeast part of Capitol Hill, I am a Ward 6 resident, a Capitol Hill resident.

Near Southeast is a continuation of Capitol Hill, this can be seen in where we grocery shop, where we go out for drinks and dinner, where our Sunday strolls for coffee and brunch take us, what parks we gather in with friends, children and dogs, how our home development extends the Hill rowhouse feel under the highway, and how we identify ourselves and neighborhood. Our values and expectations for a livable, walkable city align with our elected official. It is critical that this redistricting effort does not divide us as a Near Southeast neighborhood or from our larger neighborhood Capitol Hill - both are our amenity base and our social base. Doing so would be the antithesis of the "contiguous" goal of redistricting and the "neighborhood" goal of ANCs. It would be holding us on the outside looking in on our neighborhood that we live, work, and play in and keeping us in one that has little connection to our neighborhood, other than an occasional waterfront Safeway run.

Near Southeast is the waterfront neighborhood of Capitol Hill. I strongly oppose any efforts to split the Near Southeast/Capitol Riverfront/Navy Yard area into multiple ANCs or keep us lumped with the Southwest Waterfront, a fine neighborhood - just not OUR neighborhood.

How simple would it be to move 6C two blocks to the east and have it end at 8th Street? Eighth street is a fairly natural delineation, as it's one of the main north-south route through the ward. I haven't done the math, but I'm guessing it would bring 6B up to 13 or 14k and 6A down to 15 or 16k.